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2012/03/16

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Grant Wood’s American Gothic

Posted: 16 Mar 2012 05:15 AM PDT

No American artwork has been parodied more than American Gothic. Zombies, dogs, Beavis and Butthead, the Muppets, Lego figures, and even Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton have taken a turn with the pitchfork. But the painting itself is no joke -American Gothic is as recognizable as the Mona Lisa and The Scream.

During the Great Depression, the masterpiece gave hope to a desperate nation, and it helped shape the notion of the Midwest as a land of hard work and honest values. Today, the painting is firmly embedded in our cultural vocabulary. Yet, for all its fame, few people know the story of Grant Wood and how the piece that launched his career also unraveled his life.

That Quirky Wood Kid

In 1929, Grant Wood was a 38-year-old unknown. The artist was living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the attic of a funeral home carriage house. Thought the location may seem morbid, Wood spruced up his home with whimsical decorations. He replaced the front door with a repurposed coffin lid and outfitted the entrance with a dial that indicated if he was in, out, asleep, painting, or having a party. Wood wasn’t the only one stuffed into this loft space: He shared the studio with his mother and sister, all three sleeping side by side on pull-out beds.

Oddly enough, none of this shocked the neighbors. As a closeted gay man, Wood avoided what his sister, Nan, called “any earmarks of the artist.” he dressed exclusively in overalls, a signifier that the painting he did was gritty -man’s work. And he benefited from being a local. People in Cedar Rapids found Wood’s eccentricities charming. Friends shook their heads and smiled when he forgot to pay his bills. They even ignored his flimsy excuses for avoiding marriage. Wood was a lovable bachelor who wanted to take care of his widowed mother, that’s all.

Painting was just another of Wood’s harmless quirks -at least now that he’d given up living in Europe. The artist had spent good chunks of the 1920s in Paris and Munich -places many Midwesterners found suspect- but announced upon his 1928 return that he was back for good. The freewheeling and permissive nature of the European art scene had fascinated him. But when a solo show in Paris was met with critical indifference, it put a damper on the continent’s shine. Still, Wood’s style benefited from his experience’s abroad. His previously atmospheric, Impressionistic painting took on a hard-edged, Old Master quality. He drew inspiration from the work of the Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder, who recast biblical narratives as scenes from his own time. And he took composition cues from 15th-century Flemish painter Jan van Eyck. After three stints in Europe, Wood was ready for home. As the artist tole the Chicago Tribune, “I spent twenty years wandering around the world hunting ‘arty’ subjects to paint. I came back …and the first thing I noticed was the cross-stitch embroidery of my mother’s kitchen apron.” That moment changed him. Armed with a new technique, and a new appreciation for the mundane, Wood no longer needed to travel. What he needed was right there, in Iowa.

Going Goth

In August 1930, Wood spotted an unusual farmhouse on a drive through the tiny town of Eldon, Iowa. The house had a strange and compelling feature: a high, arched window in the Carpenter Gothic style. the artist was immediately transfixed by the structure. He needed to know what sort of people resided there. But instead of simply knocking on the door, Wood decided to capture the farmhouse in paint and tease the story out for himself. Piece by piece, he sorted through the puzzle.

Wood started by asking his dentist, 62-year-old Byron McKeeby, to serve as the male model. Throughout his life, Wood had suffered from an incurable sweet tooth -he took half a cup of sugar with his coffee, and even poured sugar on his lettuce. Over the years, he spent plenty of time in McKeeby’s chair studying and admiring the dentist’s grim, oval face. Now seemed like the perfect time to paint it. For the farmer’s companion, Wood intended to use his mother, Hattie, as a model. But when he realized that posing would be too exhausting for her, he asked his 32-year-old sister, Nan, to don Hattie’s rickrack-trimmed apron and cameo pin.

While the cast was familiar, the composition was something completely new. The couple stands posed before their simple farmhouse, its only flourish an arched window purchased from Sears. The man stares almost directly at the viewer while clutching his pitchfork; his thin lips and arched eyebrows give him a stern, slightly quizzical look. The woman looks off to the side as if unwilling to meet the viewer’s gaze, a single curled tendril of hair escaping from her bun. Both have unnaturally long faces and thin necks, as if to emphasize their uprightness. They are hardworking and humorless, dignified and honest.

Wood submitted American Gothic -the name a nod to the house’s architectural style- to a 1930 competition at the Art Institute of Chicago. Overnight, the painting became a hit. American Gothic won a bronze medal and a $300 prize, was acquired by the museum, and was reproduced in newspapers around the country. Something about it resonated with audiences, and in that mysterious process by which paintings become famous, it quickly achieved near-universal recognition.

Not everyone saw the same thing. Some perceived the work as a scathing parody of the Midwest -one outraged farm wife even threatened to bite off Wood’s ear. Meanwhile, Gertrude Stein and other critics praised the painting as a cutting small-town satire, the visual equivalent of Sinclair Lewis’ Main Street. Still others saw the painting as honoring the Midwest and its strong values. As the great Depression bore down on the country, Americans yearned for positive depictions of themselves, and Wood’s work provided the nation with a pair of ready-made secular saints of the American heartland.

Perhaps the strangest reaction, however, was from an audience focused on the age disparity between the husband and wife in the picture. Protests poured in. Nan, too, became increasingly concerned -she didn’t want to be memorialized as “married” to a much older man. So Wood altered his initial stance to claim that the painting depicted a father and daughter. In fact, Wood frequently rewrote the artwork’s history. When the painting was hailed as a satire, he went along; when it was declared an homage to the Midwest, he agreed with that, too. Finally, he came out with a bold statement that clarified nothing: “There is satire in it, but only as there is satire in any realistic statement. These are types of people I have known all my life. I tried to characterize them truthfully -to make them more like themselves than they were in actual life.”

A Mixed Legacy

With the success of American Gothic, Wood finally received the validation of his talent that he’d been seeking all his life. He was declared the founder of a new school of art, called Regionalism, and he was quick to embrace the narrative. “All the good ideas I’ve ever had came to me while I was milking a cow,” Wood famously told the press. In truth, he hated life on the farm, and was repulsed by cow udders and freshly-laid chicken eggs.

For Wood, the trade-off for fame was steep, and the artist was ill-equipped to deal with the scrutiny. He and his family lost all of their privacy. Strange fans began showing up at his apartment, ignoring the dial on the door and walking right inside. People started asking pointed questions about his bachelor status. A blackmailer even confronted Wood, threatening to reveal lurid secrets from his past. And as a nation looked to Wood as the embodiment of the Midwestern man, Wood found it harder and harder to negotiate his double life. By 1935, he was desperate. He married an older divorcee and fled Cedar Rapids. While the marriage was one of convenience, the strains of the arrangement left him both financially and creatively bankrupt.

Meanwhile, Wood’s tricks had finally worn thin. People were tiring of Regionalism, and Wood found it increasingly difficult to conceal his sexuality. he spent more and more time drawing the male figure, and in 1937, he produced Sultry Night. The piece showed a naked man standing next to a trough pouring a bucket of water over his body. When questioned, Wood defended the work as depicting the ordinary bathing habits of hired men on farms. The explanation fooled no one. Things got worse: When Wood submitted the painting to a national juried show, he was asked to withdraw it. Then, the piece was barred from being sent through the mail after the Post Office deemed it “pornographic.” Wood was mortified. He sawed the canvas in half, burned the nude portion of the painting, and didn’t paint another picture for more than a year. The artist’s life was complicated by a divorce. And when Time magazine launched an investigation into the truth about his sexuality, Wood was forced to abandon a coveted teaching position at the University of Iowa.

Wood might have pulled through all these challenges, but he never got the chance. In 1941, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He did on February 12, 1942, one day before his 51st birthday and not quite 12 years after the completion of American Gothic.

As for his masterpiece, its fame continued to grow after Wood’s death. Easily parodied, it’s been reimagined in movies, TV shows, marketing campaigns, even pornography. And audiences seem unable to put away the painting -to assign it a single, easy interpretation and just let it be. American Gothic remains inscrutable: satire and homage, high-brow and low, honest and creepy all at the same time. In the end, what makes the painting so successful is that it begs you to look closer and ask questions -the very thing Wood never wanted for himself.

_______________________

The article above, written by Elizabeth Lunday, is reprinted with permission from the January-February 2012 issue of mental_floss magazine. Get a subscription to mental_floss and never miss an issue!

Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ website and blog for more fun stuff!

Because Your Love Is Bigger On the Inside

Posted: 16 Mar 2012 01:47 AM PDT

Now this is the ultimate ring for any Doctor Who fans -a TARDIS ring created by Tumblr user Pathetic Paripatetic. I don’t know about you other geek ladies, but I want one of these when I get engaged -Zeon, take note.

Link Via The Mary Sue

This Just In: Seal Pups Are Adorable

Posted: 16 Mar 2012 01:35 AM PDT

(Video Link)

File under the most obvious headlines ever…but just look at how cute these little buggers are.

Via I Can Has Cheezburger

Great Letterheads From The Creator of Batman

Posted: 16 Mar 2012 01:31 AM PDT

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na Batpaper! Check out another letterhead used by Bob Kane at the link.

Link Via BoingBoing

Cocktail Popsicles Are A Great Way To Stay Cool This Summer

Posted: 16 Mar 2012 01:17 AM PDT


If you love frozen cocktails like pina coladas and margaritas, then you’ll love SnoBar Cocktails. The new line of alcoholic treats come in a variety of flavors and are offered as both popsicle and ice cream forms. Right now they’re only available in Arizona, but they’ll be offered in Las Vegas soon and hopefully they’ll be spreading to more markets after that.

Link Via Laughing Squid

You Can Own A Piece of Movie Magic

Posted: 16 Mar 2012 01:10 AM PDT

If you are a big fan of the Captain America movie, then you just might recognize the rebirth pod where Steve Rogers is transformed into a superhero. Want to own it? You can for approximately $4,000 as it and a bunch of other Captain America props are going up for auction at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo on April 14.  Captain’s shield and hero costume will also be up for grabs.

Link Via i09

Eyeball Sipper

Posted: 16 Mar 2012 12:13 AM PDT


Eyeball Sipper - $3.95

"Eye" got something for you, Neatoramanauts: Feast your eyes on the Eyeball Sipper from the NeatoShop. Take a sip of your favorite drink from this gruesomely bloodshot orb, and I trust you'll see how ridiculously awesome this drink container will be for your next party: Link

Check out more fun Drinkware | New Items from the NeatoShop

The Inventor Of The EBook Reader Is….Tom Hanks?

Posted: 16 Mar 2012 12:02 AM PDT

Here we see the true inventor of the ebook reader-Tom Hanks, or more precisely the character Josh Baskin that Mr. Hanks plays in the movie Big, holding up his proposal for the invention that was way ahead of its time.

Too bad Josh went back to being a little kid before he could see a profit from his invention. I wonder if any Apple or Amazon execs sat in on that pitch meeting?

Link  –via I’m Remembering

Mortal Kombat Meets Street Fighter-In A Dance Off

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 11:48 PM PDT

(YouTube Link)

It looks like the Mortal Kombat Flash Mob Dancers have some stiff competition, in the form of Super Street Fighter Dance Squad! (I just made up that Street Fighter name, but it sounds like an appropriate name for a video game themed dance mob so let’s go with it.)

Poor little Sub-Zero gets picked on in the park, so the entire Mortal Kombat crew brings the heat down on Ken and Ryu’s posse-through the power of dance.

What will stop this video game street dancing carnage once and for all? Friendship, that’s what, and a mutual love of costumed flash mobbing doesn’t hurt either.

–via Topless Robot

The Ten Best Video Game Bars

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 11:35 PM PDT

Destructoid has put together a collection of the top ten video game bars just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, all of which sound like a great place for a pixelated character to catch a buzz .

If you want to chat with a bunch of people you don’t know, but don’t feel like braving the sea of drunkards clad in green, why not let one of these classic video game characters tie one on instead? You’ll feel a sense of accomplishment without spending all your hard earned dough, and the best part? No STDs or criminal charges! Yay virtual life!

Link

Japanese TRON Dance

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 11:23 PM PDT

There's a good reason why this YouTube clip of Japan's Wrecking Crew Orchestra's TRON dance routine is making the rounds on the web: it's EPIC!

The video clip takes a bit of time before it gets going, but once it does, you won't be disappointed. Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via Boing Boing

If you want to know, the 8 dancers wear wireless electroluminescent wire garments to achieve the look. You can see it more clearly in their ad for Japanese telcom company Docomo's ad:

Christopher Walken Reads Where The Wild Things Are

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 11:09 PM PDT

(YouTube Link)

This reading of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book Where The Wild Things Are by Christopher Walken isn’t meant to amuse kids, but rather to make us grown folks chuckle while we imbibe our bubbly adult beverages. And whether this is Walken or an impersonator doesn’t really matter, because the narrator’s descriptions of what’s going on in the illustrations are comedy gold.

–via Geek Tyrant

Travel Posters For Lazy People

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 10:53 PM PDT

Illustrator Caldwell Tanner has created some colorful travel posters for locations familiar to lazy people. So, now you can feel like you do all kinds of traveling every day, even though you rarely leave your house!

Who needs fresh air and sunshine when you’ve got the arctic chill of the refrigerator and the rainbow waterfall of infinite pages that is the glorious interwebs?

Link  –via Rampaged Reality

Animated GIFs-The Birth Of A Medium

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 10:29 PM PDT

(YouTube Link)

GIFs are a fun little party for your desktop, and as a digital medium they are officially 25 years old! This seven minute documentary, from Off Book by PBS Arts, takes us on a tour of this multi-framed wonder. Despite the overuse of annoying host close-up shots, it’s a fun and informative way to celebrate the GIF.

Link  –via DesignTAXI

Cake Advertisers Give The Public A Free Taste

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 10:14 PM PDT

I recently posted an article about the baked potato advertising campaign that uses scented bus stop posters to sell their spuds to hungry riders (link).

Well, fellow UK company Mr Kipling didn’t want to merely use scented posters to advertise their tasty cakes, so they’re also giving away free samples.

They’ve installed 19 free cake dispensing posters at bus stops across London to give the people their first taste for free, and they exude a cake smell which will taunt you if the dispensing poster is tapped out.

Mmmmmm…..free bus stop cakes! Free bus stop cakes!
Link

Sex-Deprived Fly Drowns Its Sorrow in Booze

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:27 PM PDT

Rejection hurt, even for the lowly fly. Researchers discovered that sex-deprived fruit flies will drown their sorrows in booze:

To see how sex impacts fly drinking, the researchers placed virgin male flies in a dish with either virgin females or with already-mated females, which unlike the virgins will reject the males.

The male flies were paired up three times a day for four days before they were given the opportunity to booze it up: They were offered regular food and food with 15 percent alcohol. Mated flies drank almost no alcohol, preferring the booze-free food, while rejected flies drank twice their body weight's worth. Virgin males that had never been paired up with a female in the lab were somewhere in the middle: moderate drinkers.

"From the experiments we've done, our hypothesis is that it [alcohol] affects the fly's brain in a way similar to how it affects ours," Shohat-Ophir said.

Link

How to Make Portrait Gourds

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:23 PM PDT

Instructables user Tim Anderson calls his approach to crafts a “Reverse Peace Corps”. He takes crafting traditions from developing nations and brings them to the United States. For a recent project, he learned the Chinese craft of growing gourds into shapes using molds. Zhang Cairi, a master of the technique, made the one pictured above. Learn how to make your own at the link.

Link -via Make

Previously: Knotted Gourds

Homemade Hunting Rig Is a Minivan Mounted on a SUV

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:02 PM PDT

Remember the luxury, high-tech hunting rig called the Critter Gitter? This isn’t it. This beautiful work of folk art, currently on sale at eBay, is a Ford Aerostar minivan welded to the top of a Chevrolet Suburban. You drive it from the top level.

Not the way you hunt? That’s okay. Just use it as a commuter vehicle.

Link -via Jalopnik

Mona Lisa Dress Up Wall Decals

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:00 PM PDT

Mona Lisa Dress Up Wall Decals – $19.95

Are you enchanted by the Mona Lisa’s mysterious smile, but you think she could use a little updating? After all, she is over 500 years old.  You need the Mona Lisa Dress Up Wall Decals from the NeatoShop. This hilarious set includes a Mona Lisa wall decal and 11 accessories which include:

  • Beer helmet
  • 3 sets of mustaches and beards
  • Pirate eye patch
  • Handbag
  • Tattoo
  • Groucho glasses
  • 2 necklaces
  • Knuckle ring

Now it’s up to you to perfect the most well known and acclaimed work of art in the world.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more funtastic Home Decor!

Link

How to Make Glowing Sushi

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 06:35 PM PDT

What hath science wrought?! If geneticists can create fish that are bioluminescent under black light, then it’s not much of a leap to make sushi that glows. Zach Denfeld and Cat Kramer of the Center for Genomic Gastronomy have a cooking show devoted to that task. Watch the video at the link to learn how to make a kryptonite roll (pictured above) and a stop-and-glow roll.

Link | Official Website

Super Mario: The World’s Greatest Piece of Surrealist Art?

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 06:29 PM PDT

Imagine having to explain Super Mario Bros. to someone who has never seen it before. Does it sound like a cute video game or is it more like a piece of surrealist art?

Mike Rugnetta of PBS Idea Channel explores the notion:

We all know who the Mario Brothers are but have you ever stepped back and tried looking at those games from a fresh perspective? Like you've never seen or heard of them before? They're bananas! There are armored turtles who stand on their hind legs and steal princesses! There are bullets with FACES! We make a case for Mario's inclusion into a canon of art wider than "Video Game": we think Mario is a piece of surrealist artwork.

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - Thanks Lisa!

Miniature Food Sculpture Rings

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 06:05 PM PDT

Etsy seller SouZou Creations makes fancy, elaborate meals very portable. Her tiny polymer clay food sculptures slip right onto your fingers. Several of her works, including this steak platter, include elements that appear to be suspended in midair.

Link -via My Modern Met

The Origins of the Freak Show

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 05:55 PM PDT

J Tithonus Pednaud of The Human Marvels wrote about the origin of the human freak show as a business and an event and traced it to one by Lazarus and Johannes Baptista Collerdo in the 17th century:

Born in Genoa in 1617, Colloredo exhibited himself all over Europe because from his belly hung a parasitic twin that had one thigh, hands, body, arms, and even a well-formed head covered with hair. Lazarus was the name the complete twin was known by and his underdeveloped sibling was Joannes. It is highly unlikely that these were their giving names as Joannes Baptista translates to ‘John the Baptist’ in English. However, interestingly enough, it was the practice of the day to baptize both twins in a parasite or conjoined twin situation.

There were allegedly some faint signs that Joannes had some independent existence as movements of respiration were evident as were occasional rapid eye fluttering movements. The mouth of Joannes was said to be in a state of near constant salivation and Bartholinus himself wrote that he had seen the arms of Joannes move in response to stimuli. The genitals of Joannes were said to be ‘imperfect’ and it is unclear if any regular eliminations occurred.

The popularity and financial success of the twin "ensured that freak shows and human exhibition would be a worthwhile endeavour for managers and freaks alike."

Link

St. Patrick’s Day Prank

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 05:50 PM PDT

Leprechauns were here! At least, that’s the implication of a prank by kindergarten teacher Marsha M. Moffit McGuire. At the link, she provides instructions on how to make leprechaun footprints without an actual leprechaun (which are expensive).

Link -via Charity Farmer

Girl Scout Samoa Cookie Cake

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 05:44 PM PDT

Imagine a Girl Scout cookie the size of your head. Now smash your face into it and eat the entire thing.

Come on. I know that I’m not the only person fantasizing about it. Betsy Haley, the creator of this cake, can make it a reality. Read her recipe at the link.

Link -via reddit

Rare Bunny is Victim of The Media

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 05:17 PM PDT

17-day-old bunny named Til was born in a small zoo in Saxony, Germany, with no ears. It gained popularity after newspapers in Germany wrote about it, and the zoo was about to present it to the world in a press conference.

It was supposed to be Til's glorious moment until ... a TV cameraman stepped on it, killing the animal celebrity instantly:

The cameraman told Bild newspaper he hadn't seen Til, who had buried himself in hay, when he took the fateful step backward Wednesday.

Zoo director Uwe Dempewolf told Spiegel magazine Til didn't suffer: "It was a direct hit." The magazine described him as "still shaken" as he spoke of the tragedy.

"No one could have foreseen this," he told the magazine. "Everyone here is upset. The cameraman was distraught."

Rabbits without ears are "pretty rare" he said. "The other five bunnies are right as rain. It is regrettable that he was the one who got stepped on."

Spiegel called the tragic bunny a "victim of the media".

Link

Slow Children Texting

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 04:53 PM PDT

Our pal Dan Piraro has updated the ubiquitous Slow Children Playing street sign into the modern age. I mean come on, playing? We all know that kids are into texting nowadays!

Check out more at Dan's new Bizarro Comics blog: Link

I Hid The Body … Now What? Teen Texted Prank to a Random Guy, Who Turned Out to be a Cop!

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 04:11 PM PDT

It's the modern equivalent of dialing a random phone number and confessing a deep, dark secret then hanging up - but this story has a bit of a twist ending:

A northwest Arkansas teenager thought it would be funny to text a random phone number saying she hid a body, but the joke backfired.

Of all the local phone numbers she could have chosen, the 15-year-old Rogers girl picked one that belonged to a police detective. Police found the girl's address by tracing her cellphone number.

The prank? To text: "I hid the body ... Now what?" to a random phone number.

Link

 

Benchpressing Weights While Popping a Wheelie

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 03:52 PM PDT

Still trying to do something awesome? Might as well quit after you see this lil' video clip. You just don't stand a chance of being half as awesome as this guy who can benchpress while doing a wheelie. Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via Have You Seen This

Inflatable Unicorn Horn

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 03:23 PM PDT

Inflatable Unicorn Horn – $7.95

Are you looking for a way to get in touch with your inner magical woodland beast? You need the Inflatable Unicorn Horn from the NeatoShop. Who knew an inflatable hat could make you feel so wild, pure, and full of grace!

Are you really a Narwhal lover? The Inflatable Unicorn Horn is also perfect for getting in touch with your inner unicorn of the sea. Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone you are really wearing a unicorn horn.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Inflatable fun!

Link

 

Ideas for New and Wonderful Beverages

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 02:52 PM PDT

Tired of the same ol' soda in the fridge? From the twisted mind of Lunchbreath, here is a pitch (or desperate plea, your pick) for new and wonderful beverages. Shown below are ideas for crossovers:

Many more at Lunchbreath's blog: Link

Gundam Bouquet

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 02:44 PM PDT

Awesome! But it’s not life-size. So the artist, whose name I think is Songsong Jakganim, has a bit more work to do.

Link (Google Translate) -via Nerd Approved

Things I Have Said to My Children

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 01:51 PM PDT

Artist Nathan Ripperger illustrated things that he has said to his kids in this set of charming "Sh*t parents say" posters over at Flickr: Link - via Hey Oscar Wilde!

Why It’s A Small World (After All) is So Annoying

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 12:50 PM PDT

I apologize for this post, as you'd probably be spending the rest of your day humming this little ditty. Actually, it's not just any piece of music - it's the mother of all earworm.

The subject at hand is "It's a Small World (After All)," and the topic is why it's such an annoying song:

James J. Kellaris, a marketing professor at the University of Cincinnati, has done extensive research on what makes certain songs get stuck in the head. His theory is that music can create a "cognitive itch—the mental equivalent of an itchy back," especially when three qualities are present: repetition, musical simplicity, and incongruity.

No one would argue that "It's a Small World (After All)" isn't simple or repetitive. The word "world" appears 14 times in the 22 English lines of the song. Its verses are short, and the chorus consists of one line, repeated three times, followed by a slight variation on that line.

That lyrical repetition is reinforced by the song's insistent musical theme, which Robert B. Sherman's son, Robert Sherman Jr., broke down on Songfacts.com: "One thing which makes this song particularly 'catchy' is that the verse and chorus work in counterpoint to each other," he said. "This means that you can play the same chords over and over again, but with different melodies. The repetitive, yet varied pattern tricks your mind into absorbing the work without it becoming tiresome to your ear. There are many who would disagree with this, however!"

As for incongruity, one could point to the cheerful young singers of "It's a Small World (After All)." An online poll conducted by composer Dave Soldier in 1996 surveyed approximately 500 people about their most and least favorite musical sounds. Children's choirs were on the "hated" list, along with bagpipes, accordions, banjos, synthesizers, harps, and organs.

Link

Face-Off with a Lion

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 12:48 PM PDT


(YouTube link)

National Geographic photographer Mattias Klum tells the story of a special moment he shared with a endangered Asiatic lioness that could have eaten him. -via Metafilter

Previously: Revenge of the Meerkat

Linus the Long Haired Wonder Horse

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 12:04 PM PDT

Have you ever seen a horse with such a luxurious mane? Linus the Wonder Horse was born in 1884, the result of careful breeding for long hair. Linus was exhibited with a circus act, with promotional materials declaring he was of the “Oregon Long-Haired Wild Wonder horse” breed. His mane was 14 feet long, and his tail 12 feet long! Read more about Linus at Environmental Graffiti. Link

Ibuprofen-induced Meningitis

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 12:02 PM PDT

A man came to the emergency room with strange symptoms. He had previously been diagnosed with viral meningitis because of a high white cell count in a spinal tap -but no infectious agent was found. And his symptoms weren’t consistent with the diagnosis. Then the doctor remembered another strange case he’d read about.

In a Vital Signs column in this magazine 17 years ago, infectious-disease physician Abigail Zuger described the conundrum of a young woman with recurrent meningitis. Hospitalized four times in a matter of months, the patient exhibited high fevers, delirium, and a stiff neck—all signs of life-threatening ?bacterial, septic meningitis. CAT scans were normal. Spinal taps revealed high white cell counts in the cerebrospinal fluid—usually a harbinger of severe infection—but bacterial and viral cultures grew nothing. The patient was becoming ill and then abruptly getting better. The fourth time, to general eye-rolling, a medical student was tasked with asking the woman for the umpteenth time whether she had taken anything, anything, prior to getting sick. He hit pay dirt: Advil.

Zuger's patient hadn't considered over-the-counter, everyday Advil a medication. It is also sold as Rufen or Motrin, and the chemical moniker is ibuprofen. Ubiquitous as this drug is, until reading Zuger's article I hadn't known that in rare cases it can cause meningitis.

Case reports are the lifeblood of diagnosis. The dry, reductionist, what-percent-have-cough and what-percent-have-fever lists in medical texts will put you to sleep. But good stories stick. Doctors trade odd diagnoses like baseball cards; we glean them from journals, TV, and friends, stockpiling them against the next tough diagnosis. Zuger's story—even 16 years later—primed me to jump on one small clue.

Ibuprophen-induced meningitis is rare, but it explained everything about this particular patient. Read the rest at Discover magazine. Link -via TYWKIWDBI

River of Ice

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 11:49 AM PDT


(Source: Yapyakal)

Brr! You're looking at what happens in Russia when winter snow starts to melt and then flash froze in a cold snap into a river of ice. That would make one very fun (and surely fatal) slide down! Via Buzzfeed

Belphegor’s Prime

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 10:54 AM PDT

Pi Day was yesterday, so today mathematicians who swore allegiance to the Dark Side are celebrating something more sinister: Belphegor's Prime.

Belphegor's Prime is a prime number - you know, a number greater than 1 that cannot be wholly divided by any other number besides 1 and itself.

But it's not just any prime number. For one, it's a palindromic prime number. Then, there's the 666 hiding among the zeroes:

1000000000000066600000000000001

The symbol of Belphegor's Prime is an upside down Pi - derived from a bird glyph first seen in the mysterious Voynich Manuscript.


Saint Wolfgang and the Devil by Michael Pacher

Those of you who have read John Milton's Paradise Lost and Victor Hugo's The Toilers of the Sea would recognize Belphegor as one of the seven Princes of Hell and the demon of inventiveness (he's the prince of "Vanity and Sloth" and seduces people by suggesting ingenious inventions will make them rich).

From Cliff Pickover | If you like that, you'd love Cliff's The Math Book, which is filled with mathematical wonders and curiosities

Previously on Neatorama: The Math Book: Milestones in the History of Math

Five Badass Actors That Got Stabbed And Lived

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 10:15 AM PDT

Pictured left is actor Jimmy Smits, who was not stabbed in this article. He did the stabbing!

Jeff Chase is an actor and stuntman who has been in the business consistently for years and is well respected, though not well known. He was shooting a scene for Dexter, the awesome Showtime show about a killer who kills killers.

In this scene, Chase was supposed to get stabbed by Jimmy Smits using a prop knife, but somehow, Smits got his hands on a real knife, claims we was completely unaware it was real, and stabbed Jeff Chase multiple times in the chest. In front of tons of people. And on film.

The weirdest part is Smits went into a sort of stabbing-trance, and just kept stabbing Chase, until Michael C. Hall (aka Dexter) yelled STOP at him multiple times.

Chase survived, and so did the other five actors in this post from Unreality magazine. Link

Easter Flashing Pen

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 10:12 AM PDT

Easter Flashing Pen – $3.95 (sold separately)

Hippity Hoppity Easter is on its way. Isn’t it time you got into the spirit of spring? You need the Easter Flashing Pen from the NeatoShop.  This steal worthy pen is not only cute, but he also lights up when he slam him down in frustration. He is the perfect pen to ease you through your hectic workday.

The Easter Flashing Pen is available in Easter Bunny and Chick. Collect them both. Buy two and give one to a friend!

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for lots of Easter fun and more Pens & Pencils to make you smile.

Link

12 Things “Enhanced” With Radiation

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 09:49 AM PDT

At one time, radium, or radiation, was considered new, cutting-edge, and the savior of mankind. Any and all products were “better” when infused with radiation! See a collection of these miracle products at Buzzfeed. Link

Exploding Milk Causes Havoc on Highway

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 09:17 AM PDT

A truck transporting milk and cream on the A75 in Galloway, Scotland, caused chaos Tuesday morning when the cargo began to explode. Other drivers saw that the truck was on fire!

Motorists tried to alert the driver Phil Sykes, from Cleveleys, Lancashire, who was heading south with the load of milk and cream.

But it was near the Kirkcudbright turnoff at Tarff, about seven miles west of Castle Douglas, before the driver became aware of the fire around 6am.

He managed to pull the lorry into the roadside where firefighters from Kirkcudbright and Castle Douglas extinguished the blaze after nearly two hours. They were hampered by the exploding skooshy cream containers and milk cartons, and traffic was delayed for more than two hours before single-file traffic was put in operation by police.

Mr Sykes said: "I phoned my boss to let him know but he said it was no use crying over spilled milk.The main thing was that no-one was injured.

Firefighters responded to the scene and said there was milk everywhere. Link -via Arbroath

St. Bernard and Kitten

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 09:14 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

Abby the St. Bernard plays with the new kitten! The kitten, named Little Bugger, was taken in as a stray at four weeks of age, and Abby loves him dearly. The uploader says that the kitten is now over a year old and is still best friends with Abby. -via The Daily What

Red Deer Cave People May Be New Species

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 08:32 AM PDT

Human bones belonging to at least five individuals have been found at Red Deer Cave in Yunnan Province and at Longlin in Guangxi Province in China. They are fairly recent, dating to between 11,500 and 14,500 years ago. But these bones show features that makes scientists think they might be from a species different from Homo sapiens. Team co-leader Darren Curnoe from the University of New South Wales says that will be a hard call to make, as there is still no agreed-upon definition of Homo sapiens.

The skulls and teeth from the two locations are very similar to each other, suggesting they are from the same population.

But their features are quite distinct from what you might call a fully modern human, says the team. Instead, the Red Deer Cave people have a mix of archaic and modern characteristics.

In general, the individuals had rounded brain cases with prominent brow ridges. Their skull bones were quite thick. Their faces were quite short and flat and tucked under the brain, and they had broad noses.

Their jaws jutted forward but they lacked a modern-human-like chin. Computed Tomography (X-ray) scans of their brain cavities indicate they had modern-looking frontal lobes but quite archaic-looking anterior, or parietal, lobes. They also had large molar teeth.

So far there are several theories about the Red Deer Cave people, which you can read at the BBC report. Link -via the Presurfer

Intel Recreates Pipe Dream

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 07:50 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

In 2001, Animusic produced a music video called Pipe Dream that became an animation classic. Ten years later, Intel commissioned Sisu Devices to recreate that video in physical space. It’s not as colorful as the original, but the fact that they pulled it off at all is remarkable. Link -via Metafilter

What Is It? game 218

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 06:30 AM PDT

It’s once again time for our collaboration with the always amusing What Is It? Blog. Can you guess what the pictured item is? Can you make up something interesting?

Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you’d like. Post no URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will win T-shirt from the NeatoShop.

Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don’t include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?

For more clues, check out the What Is It? Blog. And good luck!
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